A family has told how their holiday break to their seaside caravan was ruined by a 14-hour power cut.

Ian MacMaster, his wife and two young grandchildren packed up and returned home following the blackout at Seawick Holiday Park in St Osyth.

Mr MacMaster said they were plunged into darkness at about 7pm on Saturday and later discovered the power did not return until 9am the next day.

He said: "We have had the caravan at Seawick for four years now and this is the third time we have suffered a power cut.

"I am not sure if it was the whole park but certainly a number of caravans were affected the pub was out and the Chinese restaurant."

Mr MacMaster said he had taken the matter up with park owners in the past and had been told there was some sort of problem with the electric system but he felt it should have been sorted out by now.

A spokeswoman for Seawick blamed the power cut on Saturday's weather and said that because it was cold, a large number of appliances had been switched on at once and had overloaded the system.

She added that some people bring domestic appliances, not suited to caravans, which makes the problem worse.

The spokeswoman said she believed a number of other caravan parks in the area had similar problems at the weekend.

Published Thursday, April 24, 2003

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